In Iran Vote, a Challenger Looks to Past

By

Farnaz Fassihi

Updated June 12, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

TEHRAN, Iran -- In one of the most extraordinary presidential campaigns Iran has seen, reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has borrowed tactics from two seemingly divergent political movements: Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, and President Barack Obama's run for the White House.

The strategy spawned an odd mix of Iranian revolution-era songs -- a famous one begins, "The devil is leaving and the angel is coming" -- tied to modern campaign tactics Mr. Mousavi's advisers say they ripped straight from the Obama playbook.

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Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign employed tactics including Facebook pages and a YouTube video clip. Above, some of his supporters cheer at a final rally in Tehran before the Friday vote.
Associated Press

Iran's voters go to the polls Friday; a record turnout is expected. The race is viewed as largely between Mr. Mousavi and incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a harsh U.S. critic and conservative figure. Two other candidates, reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi and conservative Mohsen Rezaie, are also running.

Polling isn't reliable, so it is tough to gauge who is in front. Iranian elections can yield surprising results, but most analysts say it might be a close race and could even go into a runoff.

Regardless of the result, Iranian politics have entered uncharted territory.

Mr. Mousavi in particular ran an energetic dark-horse campaign that startled the nation with some of its strategies.

An architect and former prime minister, he has pledged to overhaul the economy, reinstate relative social freedoms and re-engage politically with the U.S. and other Western nations.

His chief strategist is Mohamad Reza Jalaeipour, a 26-year-old doctorate student of sociology. Mr. Jalaeipour says he developed many of his campaign ideas after obsessively watching the Obama campaign unfold on satellite television and online at his parents' apartment in Tehran.

"I was fascinated by what was happening in the U.S. and hopeful that we can also mobilize our own people in the same way," Mr. Jalaeipour said.

He joined Mr. Mousavi's campaign in March with a list of 30 ideas, he said, many of which were borrowed from Mr. Obama, to the extent that they were applicable in Iran. He joined a staff of older advisers, many of whom were revolutionaries before.

Based partly on Mr. Jalaeipour's recommendations, Mr. Mousavi has campaigned side-by-side with his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and has broken a taboo of public affection by holding her hand when they appear together. Today, posters of the hand-holding couple are plastered across the country.

Traditionally, Iran's first lady would remain in the shadows. In contrast, Ms. Rahnavard holds her own campaign events and travels around the country meeting female voters.

"I will be very active socially and politically if I become first lady," she said last week at a news conference, when asked how she would be different from predecessors.

To pursue young voters, Mr. Jalaeipour created pages on social-networking sites such as Facebook and asked supporters to make their profile picture green, the color of the campaign. He commissioned movie stars to make a video clip in support of Mr. Mousavi and posted it on YouTube and elsewhere.

In a major departure for an Iranian campaign, Mr. Jalaeipour also started registering thousands of young volunteers for myriad tasks -- to work the phones, or travel to villages to interview voters -- then report back to headquarters what they were hearing.

It amounted to a nationwide, ad hoc network of voter information. "I called every one I knew in my phone book and asked them to do the same," says Mariam Kazemi, a 21-year-old law student. "I must have brought in several thousand votes."

To mobilize older and religious voters, the more senior members of Mr. Mousavi's advisory panel, including Mr. Jalaeipour's father, Hamid Reza, wanted him to also include popular revolution-era tactics.

One such tactic played out Monday, when the campaign called for backers to form a human chain in cities around Iran. In Tehran, tens of thousands packed a prominent avenue, evoking deep memories among observers.

"The scenes I'm seeing remind me of the revolution. Something has stirred us, even my children feel it," said Nader Sedighi, a 51-year-old journalist and former revolutionary.

On Thursday -- the last night of campaigning before the vote -- millions of Iranians came out again, blocking most of Tehran to vehicles.

They chanted slogans adapted from the 1979 revolution that deposed the Shah of Iran, including "Death to dictator, whether a Shah or a doctor." President Ahmadinejad is referred to as "Doctor" by his supporters because he has a Ph.D in traffic management.

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When police approached to contain the rowdy crowd, people chanted, "The army is beautiful in green," another line borrowed from the revolution.

In the past week, as campaigning heated up, Mr. Mousavi's camp has also demonstrated a rare willingness to stand up to Iran's clerical establishment.

In an unprecedented move, Mr. Rafsanjani penned an open letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, complaining about Mr. Ahmadinejad's accusation of corruption and asked the leader to intervene.

Ayatollah Khamenei hasn't responded publicly. But he met for three hours with Mr. Rafsanjani and discussed the president. Mr. Rafsanjani called the meeting positive, according to local papers.

To counter some of the social frenzy, Mr. Ahmadinejad's campaign began to fight back with similar tactics. The final few nights of the campaign, his supporters also began taking to the streets shouting slogans and waving the Iranian flag.

"The regime hates this carnival atmosphere, but it now has no choice but to participate," says Eisah Saharkheez, a political analyst.

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